Amnesty said last week that Ali al-Khawahir, 24, was reportedly sentenced to Qisas, or retribution, and could be paralysed from waist down if he fails to pay compensation of one million riyals (£175,000).

The London-based human rights watchdog said Khawahir had stabbed a friend of his in the back in 2003, leaving him paralysed. The convict was 14 years old at the time.

It said a similar sentence of paralysis was given in Saudi Arabia in 2010, but that it was unknown whether it had been carried out.

The ultraconservative Muslim kingdom imposes several forms of corporal punishment attributed to Islamic sharia law, ranging from flogging to amputation and beheading.